It's been a while... A planned while, but a while nonetheless. Late spring, summer and the start of autumn. Get used to me not reporting much during those times, because that is how it will be. Things change, life changes, my life has changed, and the clearest indication of that change is the times that I will be on the road, versus the times I will be home. When the sun moves north, heralding the return of summer at home, so will I, and when it leaves I will depart with it. And so as that big ball of fire makes it way to the south again, I too am getting ready to hit the road. But what did I do in all those months prior to this moment? That is what this blog is about, ... read more

This journey I have been on with my mother has, in large part, been defined by my father. It was, as you know, supposed to be his trip with my mother, not mine. And the trips my parents undertook whenever visiting my brother always had a certain unalterable pattern to them, no doubt borne out of experience. It was a configuration they used when visiting my sister as well. The pattern was a way for them of allocating their time between travel and seeing family. The time was divided up equally between both. It was nearly always a two-four-two pattern, that meant two weeks with my brother/sister, four weeks on the road, two more weeks back with my brother/sister. But even the time spent with my brother or sister had a particular configuration, though not as ... read more

In Uruguay people get killed by eagles... More about that later. We were in Uruguay for only four days, that is not enough for any country, except perhaps Vatican City. The last time I was in Uruguay I was there for a week, and to be honest I did less than we did now. Montevideo was less touristic in those days, and less expensive. My most enduring memory of that time was the steak I had. To this day it is the best steak I have had in my life, and it wasn’t dear, I think I paid around five dollars for it. I suspect no steak will ever be able to top the one I had then, because as time goes by it will only become better and better in my mind. Uruguay therefore has ... read more

Religion has played a powerful role in Paraguay. It is partly due to the church that the Guarani language has survived, although the same church also was the church of the oppressor and slave raiders. The church in Paraguay was like the two headed eagle of the Byzantine Empire, one head condoned the Spanish treatment of the natives in all its cruelty, while the other head spread its wings over the indigenous people and protected them. The head that protected was the Jesuit order, with full support of the Vatican and the pope. The same Vatican and pope that endorsed the Spanish, who conquered and enslaved the local population. Obviously that protection came with the price of having to convert, but either way the locals were being converted, whether they were enslaved or not. At least ... read more

It’s hot in Paraguay. Let me start with that. I am not sure if it is always this hot in summer in this country. If it is I pity the inhabitants. The other day it was 47 degrees here. A man told us today you could fry an egg on the pavement in the summer. I believed him, what is not to believe. In fact I felt like that egg, or at least my brain did, as it simmered away in my head. Paraguay… I was here once before, in winter, a much better time to visit. That was ten years ago. I only visited Asuncion then, it was rather seedy as far as I remember. Things have changed, I am sure there was no TGI Friday’s in the centre of town or in all of ... read more

I have arrived in Lima, to start a trip which would not have happened, but for last year’s event. A journey I am undertaking with my mother. It should have been my father who accompanied my mother, it was their trip. But it was not to be. And so my mother and I start on this journey, on the trip she and my dad had planned. It is in a very real sense a new beginning. For the first time I won’t be able to share my travels with my dad, he won’t be reading my blogs, he won’t be asking me questions about the places I visit, he won’t be tracing my wanderings on a map back home, and when I come home, he won’t be there waiting for me. This trip with my mother ... read more

My dad died. He died on Tuesday the 10th of December 2013 from lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain. This blog is about that event, but mostly it is about my father and it is dedicated to him and his life. For most people he was a friendly man, or a good colleague and friend, but to me he was papa. This simple word conveys everything that he was and still is for me. Final moments He wasn't alone when he died, my mum and I were with him. We told him we were there, not to be afraid and, most importantly, that we loved him. My mum kissed him. He reacted to us in those final moments, so we know that he was aware of us being there. He died at home, ... read more

It’s been forever since I returned home, but finally an end is in sight. Or so I thought, until a few days ago. But life has a strange way of blindsiding you when you least expect it. And suddenly I find myself in uncertain territory. TravelBlog is about travelling, and as a rule I only write when travelling. The only time I, more or less, deviate from the topic is when I write about my time at home. One blog for the whole period spent in-between travelling. That can mean a one month interlude, or a six months interlude. This time was supposed to be no different. Yes, different for me, because of the reason for returning home, but the blog as a whole was going to be similar in approach to all my other Intermezzo ... read more

I travel alone, at least, most of the time I do. It isn’t that I especially want to travel on my own, but it is just a fact that the vast majority of the people on this planet do not have the time or the money to do so. If they have the money, they don’t have the time, if they have the time, they don’t have the money. In the west, it is a different situation, there it, in the end, comes down to choice and most folks choose differently than I do. I chose to focus entirely on seeing as much of this great big world as possible, and with it eschewed the comfortable certainties of life: the job, the pension, the white picket fence with dog and family, the mortgage, the stress, the ... read more

The Mahakam River is long, obviously not nearly as long as the great rivers of the world, but long enough to do some cruising. It reaches right up into the heart of Kalimantan, and though it sounds like a ‘Heart of Darkness’ experience, it isn’t. Being rather big means all kind of river traffic can make its way up, and that in turn makes it easy to exploit the natural resources along it. And exploited they have been and are still being. Coal is the main resource, followed by timber, and, so it seems, gold. With rapids only really restricting access to the last third, the rest has been up for grabs. As you take a passenger ferry up or down it you will pass a lot of coal barges, and a lot ports serving the ... read more